Alicia is found in her kitchen along with her husband's body and a gun. He has been shot five times in the face. Alicia never speaks another word to anyone, even during her trial. She is placed in an institution where psychotherapist, Theo Faber, has become obsessed with finding out not only why she killed her husband, but why she will not speak about what happened that fateful night.
This is a well written thriller which will keep you guessing until the end.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, author; Louise Brealey, Jack Hawkins narrators
There are two competing stories in this excellent psychological thriller. One concerns an artist, Alicia Berenson, a woman of fragile emotions and a victim of circumstance. After her mother committed suicide, she was placed in the care of her abusive father’s sister, who was a difficult woman.
When she was able, she left the home and eventually fell deeply in love and married a successful photographer, Gabriel Berenson. When her father died, she had a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide, but afterwards, seemed fine, until the day she thought she saw someone watching her, from a distance. Was it her imagination?
The second story concerns Dr. Theo Faber, a man who also had a troubled past. Raised by an angry, abusive father and an alcoholic mother, he too attempted suicide when younger. However, he fell in love and married and was now working as the psychotherapist at The Grove, where Alicia Berenson was sent after her trial. He seems to have been fascinated by her work and was obsessed with treating her. It was his dream to encourage her to speak, although she had not spoken a word for the six years that had passed since she was convicted of the murder of her husband.
There is a third character that underlies the story. The character is Alcestis who became well known in the Greek tragedy written by Euripedes. She was willingly sacrificed and died in place of her husband. However, Hercules intervened, in some versions, and brought her back to life by battling death and winning. This theme permeated the novel in subtle and overt ways.
The timeline was confusing for some readers, but the author, obviously intended it to be. To those of you who like to peek at the end, don’t. There are numerous twists and turns as the story plays out and the conclusion will be a huge surprise to most readers.
The narrators who read the book on the audio were absolutely superb, interpreting each word perfectly for each character, with mood and setting becoming almost visible from their portrayal. My big criticism is the use of unnecessary foul language which did nothing to enhance the narrative. On a positive note, it would make a great movie.

Wow! Just Wow! I love when a book turns the corner in a story and you are caught off guard. Not saying much more to avoid spoilers. Wow, just wow! #botm

mixed reviews but I liked it. thought it was a good story and good twists at the end. easy read and finished it quickly. Good book for a first time author.

Loved this book!

I think it could lead to great discussions.

shhh the silent patient will keep you guessing . What a great mystery and it does not revolve around a police investigation !

I loved the twist near the end of the book. Caught me off guard but I loved that it was not easy to guess what was going to happen. Good Mystery.

Thanks to Celadon Books and Bookish First for the ARC of The Silent Patient. It was a well-written, well-crafted thriller. I was absolutely sure I knew who the person was that Alicia claimed was following her. I was so sure, that I checked back several times to confirm my suspicion. Her silence made the story that much more eerie. I couldn't imagine why this woman was keeping silent about the death of her husband, and why she had painted the one painting after his death.
Her psychoanalyst was trying to break through to her, and was making great strides, until something terrible happened to Alicia. And, then, everything you thought you knew turned out to be wrong!
It was a shocking conclusion to this thriller, and totally unexpected. A real shocker!!
I thought some of the story dragged on a little, otherwise this would have been 5 stars for me. But, I still really loved it!
#TheSilentPatient #AlexMichaelides #CeladonBooks #BookishFirst

Although you’ll find THE SILENT PATIENT in bookstores on shelves with psychological thrillers, it isn’t. THE SILENT PATIENT is a character study.

The silent patient is Alicia, who refuses to talk since she shot and killed her husband. Her psychotherapist, Theo, is so interested in Alicia that he managed to get a job at the hospital where she is now being kept, and then he managed to be assigned to her case.

Theo learns more and more about Alicia's life by means that are certainly unbelievable, i.e., by interviewing her friends and family in their homes and offices. At the same time, we also learn about Theo’s life.

So, unlike a psychological thriller, THE SILENT PATIENT is a study of these two characters. But this book is also not a psychological thriller because it contains no twists and turns, which I expect when I read a thriller, until nearly the end.

For a psychological thriller to be literary, as the best of them are, it is character-driven as well as plot-driven. But I would not say that of THE SILENT PATIENT. I will not give a book a high rating just because it finally grabs me near the end.

Give me more than character study, and grab me right from the start. That is what I require of a highly rated book.

What a neat and interesting read. I found the twists and turns in the book were in perfect places. I was able to guess the ending, but it did not stop me from reading the end. I highly recommend this as a book club read.

I couldn’t put this book down!!

Great plot twist at the end, but the first 90% of the book was a bit dull.

By the middle of the book, I did not like the narrator. I found him to have a creepy rather repulsive personality. It turned me off the book.

definitely a page turner....sort of manipulative intentionally...Written with hopes of making into a movie. It will be a good movie for sure.

Loved it

Gripping-scary and addictive

I don't typically enjoy books with unreliable narrators or artists as main characters, so we were off to a bad start from the get go. I found both Theo and Alicia to be incredibly annoying and unlikable. Actually didn't care for any of the characters. I'm not a psychologist but this can't possibly be the way a trained professional talks about patients and the field itself. Do they really say a "nutter?" Whatever, because I guess the professional language of a mental health specialist goes out the window when 1) everything else is he does is highly unethical and unprofessional and 2) the specialist himself is clearly unwell. And about the twist, saw that coming at a painful snail's pace. Final comment, I can suspend disbelief but this goes way beyond what I can handle. My opinion is not the popular one and I can understand why some find this a griping novel but I just couldn't get a thrill.

Our book club found the book inconsistent and they were not convinced of the outcome. The author failed to create any likeable characters that you could connect with and it seemed that it was written to simply surprised, The first half of the book was much better than the second and the initial setup of the book was great but then the author loses it and it just collapses into the unbelievable.

Made it to half and stopped, moving to next book!

A good psychological thriller that keeps you guessing.

Loved this one! I Couldn’t put it down and it kept me guessing. I love a good ending like this one where it all ties together and you find out if any of your theories were right!

This was twisted, interesting and pretty good. I enjoyed the therapeutic interjections and themes, as a clinician. For the same reasons, the ending seemed to make more sense to me...although yet still as surprising. It was written pretty straightforwardly, no enlightening quotes or ideas, but was a good, strong story. Very enjoyable. I saw that a film, based on this book, is being considered; I'd also be very interested in watching it.

This truly is an addictive page turner. Did not expect the ending....and I am always trying to figure it out. Enjoy! If it takes you over 3 days to read this....you must have misplaced the book:)

Unputdownable. One of the best thrillers I’ve read in a while.

I feel like the author had a shocking ending and built a book around it.

Solid, gripping storytelling. You knew you were in good hands. Liked the psychology element, combined with the art element.

Very quick/easy read;

LOVED this book. Was sucked into it towards the end. Couldn’t believe the plot twist!

Rated 8.5 out of 10. Suspenseful thriller with lots to talk about

Liked it. Surprise ending.

Liked it

Fun book. Good twist. Really enjoyed reading

This was a fast read which I liked. Ending was interesting.

Did not predict the ending

I had high hopes from others recommending, but I found it ok. There was some complexity to it, but it took a while for it to get going and when it did I figured it out quickly.

This book was really good. I did not expect the plot twist at the end. It definitely messed with your mind a little. I recommend, for sure if your in a reading funk and want to get out of it.

4.5/5

Definitely worth the read! Slower start but it unexpectedly picks up!

I really liked it! I binged it!

Brilliant with a great twist.

It was definitely engrossing, but the third time she mentioned boning her husband in her diary, I knew this was written by a man. This is definitely a first novel.

amazingly written had me hooked until the very last word!!!!

It had an interesting story, but it was a bit predictable, and did not get really interesting until the last quarter of the book

I was not prepared for the major twist at the end. All I’ve got to say is WOW- probably will read this one again. DEFINITELY recommending to everyone I know.